William
England (1794 Virginia -1876) served during the
War of 1812, enlisting
November 13, 1814, serving in Capt. Samuel
Carother's Tennessee
Militia and being discharged May 16, 1915.
At the age of 22 years
he married Chloe Pike (1794 - 1870) on March 2,
1817 in Robertson Co.,
Tennessee. To this union four daughters and
two sons were born in
Robertson Co., Tennessee
On
November 12, 1827, William England purchased 80
acres of "public lands"
in Morgan Co., Illinois (created in 1823) provided
by the Act of
Congress, May 6, 1812 as bounty land for partial
compensation of
volunteer military service during the War of 1812.
He purchased
an additional 87.65 acres in Madison Co., Illinois
(created in 1812) on
March 12, 1834; both records were signed by
President John Quincy Adams
On
November 1, 1839, he purchased 80 acres in Marion
Co., Illinois
(created January 1823), signed by President Martin
Van Buren.
Another was 55.34 acres was purchased on
March 10, 1843, deed
signed by President John Tyler.
William and Chloe's youngest child,
son William, was born in Illinois May 1827.
Federal census for
1850 and the state census for 1855 list the
England family living in
Marion Co., Illinois. William England had
the first store in
Racoon township and was the first postmaster.
William England
and family were living in Whitesboro, Grayson Co.,
Texas where he
registered to vote in 1867, stating that he had
lived in the state for
11 years and in Grayson County and Whitesboro
precinct for 10 years.
Family history notes that Chloe died at
Whitesboro in September
1870.
In
the the mid-1850s William and Jane Taylor family
moved from Missouri to
Texas; in 1856 W.H. Taylor received a grant of 288
acres on the waters
of Denton Creek in Cooke Co.; when Montague Co.
was created this land
was within the new county boundaries. On
June 16, 1857 Eliza Ann,
daughter of William & Jane Taylor married
Wiley Blount Savage, a
widower aged 45 years, at the age of 14.
(W.R. Potter's History
of Montague County describes this as the first
marriage to occur on
Denton Creek. Eliza Ann Taylor Savage is
listed twice in the 1860
Montague Co. census - once in her father's
household and, two houses
later, in that of her her new husband along with
his five children from
his first marriage. Mr. Savage dies in 1864
and Eliza married
Benjamin Krebs, a Swiss immigrant, who was
listed as a stage
driver in the 1860 census at Ft. Belknap, Young
Co., Texas. Eliza
and Benjamin had three children.
On September 24, 1869, Eliza's
father, William H. Taylor, obtained a second land
grant of 160 acres
near the old farm of Wiley Blount Savage.
Eliza's younger brother,
William Taylor, Jr., shot and killed their father
in the home of Eliza
and Benjamin Krebs when his drunk father arrived
home and attempted to
whip his son (Marvin F. London's Famous Court
Trials of Montague Co.)
William Jr. and slipped out the back door of
his father's home
and went to Eliza's home, where their father
chased his son and
threatened him, resulting in the tragic shooting.
William Taylor,
Jr. was eventually captured, tried and acquitted
of his father's murder.
In
1870 Benjamin Krebs, age 36, along with his
wife, Eliza, age 26,
and their four children were enumerated in
Montague Co. Living in
Whitesboro, Grayson Co. at this time were:
1870 Grayson Co., pct 3,
Whitesboro, Texas Census (22 November 1870, pg.52)
On
December 7, 1870, William England, aged 77,
married Salena Dewitt Taylor, aged 50, in
Montague County.
On
the evening of August 26, 1876 events were set
in motion that would
change the lives of the Taylor and England
family forever. That
night Benjamin Krebs, along with James Preston
and Eliza's youngest
brother, Aaron K. Taylor, were detained,
jailed and indicted on
suspicions of the murder of Methodist minister
William England, his
wife, Selena, and two of her children
from a prior marriage,
Isaiah D. Taylor and Susie Taylor, who was to
be married a few days
after her murder.
The evening of the
murder, Mr. England, his wife, and her
children were preparing for the
night's sleep in their newly built home when
the three men came to the
house and slaughtered the family.
The Krebs-Preston murder
case drew considerable attention because of
the savage nature of the murders, even being
noted in The
New York Times edition of September
30, 1876.
Prior to her death, Selena England identified
Ben Krebs, face-to-face, as the individual who
had mortally wounded her.
The Denison
Daily News
Wednesday morning, August 30, 1876
pg. 1
A
FIENDISH OUTRAGE
A Family of Seven Murdered Near Montague by a
Party of
Masked Men.
The Victims are Rev. W.G. England, His Wife,
Step-Daughter
and Four Step-Sons.
The Family
Formerly Resided in Grayson County
Special
to the Dallas
Herald
Decatur, August 28 - A murder most
foul was perpetrated on
Denton Creek, just in the edge of Montague
county. Rev. Mr. England, his step son
and daughter,
were murdered in their house on Saturday
night.
The former had his throat cut and the latter
two were shot.
Mrs. England, wife of the murdered minister,
who was formerly a Mrs.
Taylor, was also shot and will die.
Parties, whose names we could not learn,
have been arrested on
suspicion.
Special to the Herald
Decatur, August 18 - There were five
persons murdered 6
miles south of the town of Montague on
Saturday night, by parties in
disguise. The persons murdered are Rev.
W.G. England, three step-sons and one
step-daughter, all grown. The mother was
shot, but still survives at
last accounts. No cause has as yet been
heard for the fiendish outrage. The family
once resided in Grayson county.
LATER
Decatur,
August 28 - Particulars from the scene of the
murder are to the effect that there were seven
persons in all killed,
the old
gentleman, his wife, a step-daughter, and four
step-sons. Mr.
England was shot and had his throat slashed;
Isaiah and Susie Taylor
were shot as well. Mrs. Taylor was shot
but survived through the
night. The opinion prevails that they
were murdered
for money, as the family was known to be well
off, having just
completed a fine
house. Mr. England was a Methodist
preacher. The latest information
corroborates the above facts but throws no
additional light on the cause
of the
murder.
The Galveston
Daily News
took up the story in its September 5, 1876
edition, stating that seven
people had been killed with knives (incorrect)
- Mr. England, his wife, her
daughter and four sons. Public opinion was
that the family had
been murdered for money since the family
was known to be well off.
Public excitement was so high that there
was fear of the
possibility of Benjamin Krebs being lyned;
however, County Attorney
Matlock put the suspects behind bars as soon as
possible because "This
whole assassination exceeds anything ever known
in Texas for atrocity,
excepting the acts of Indians."
The jury was out only five minutes
before returning a verdict of guilty and a
sentence of death in the
first trial held in November 1876 (The Galveston
Daily News,
November 23, 1876) Young Edward Taylor,
who was only 17, could
not be executed under Texas law, was sentenced
to life in prison, where
he died Jun 6, 1880 with dropsy and consumption.
In 1880 a change
of venue was granted to Cooke County where the
Court of Appeals
reversed the original convictions of Benjamin
Krebs and James Preston.
Both men bitterly denied the charges and
never wavered in
claiming their innocence of such charges.
The jury in the appeals
trial was out only 20 minutes before returning a
verdict; Krebs
and Preston were again convicted of 1st degree
murder and sentenced to
death by hanging; the men were held in the Cooke
Co. jail at
Gainesville until they could be transported to
the state penitentiary.
(The
Galveston Daily, February 18, 1879)
Edward Taylor was convicted and sentenced
to life in prison. (The Galveston
Daily News,
February 15, 1880) On April 30, 1880 a
large crowd of people from
Montague Co. arrived in Gainesville just shortly
after the train left,
assumedly to carry out justice at their own
hands. However, an
agent of the state penitentiary at Huntsville
arrived in Denison from
Gainesville on the 11 o'clock train with Krebs,
age 52, and Preston,
aged 55, who were housed in the Denison jail
while awaiting a later
train to continue their journey. Krebs was
a native of Switzerland and had lived on the
Texas frontier for 30 years; Preston
was a native of Tennessee and had lived in Texas
only a couple of years
when the England family was murdered in 1876.
(The
Galveston Daily News, April 30, 1880)
About
a week before the two men were taken to
Huntsville, their sentence of
death was commuted by the Texas Governor Roberts
to life in prison,
stating that there was conflicting evidence in
the case. When
asked at the sentencing in the courtroom if they
had anything to say,
Preston insisted that he was innocent and Krebs
chose not to speak
because he was not fluent in English enough to
make himself correctly
understood. (The Galveston Daily News, May
1, 1880)
In
June of 1880, Harvey Isaac who had survived the
murder of his
step-father, mother & siblings, was living
in Grayson County with
his remaining siblings.
1880 Grayson County
Census, Texas, Pct 7, June 2-3 1880
15/15
W. Isaac Taylor 31m
laborer ILL
Harvey 29m ILL
R. Birch 27m TX
Martha F 18f AR
The
inconsistency
in the evidence presented at the trial was
between the
dying declaration of Celina Taylor England of
who her family's killer
was and that of her son, the only survivor of
the horrible affair.
Mrs.
England had been mortally wounded but was able
to run to the home of
John Musick, over half a mile distant, and
told them, "Krebs came in
and presented his pistol at Isaiah and shot
him, and that she and Susie
ran but Krebs followed and shot her, and she
asked him to shoot her no
more." She also stated that as she and
Susie ran from the house
that Krebs followed them and Susie exclaimed,
" Oh, mother, Ben Krebs
has come to kill us all!" After being
shot, Susie cried, "Oh,
mother, Ben Krebs has killed me." The
next day, August 27, 1876,
Krebs was identified by Mrs. England and she
told him to his face that
he was her murderer as well as that of her
family and that "she knew
him by his whiskers, by his Dutch talk and
even that old white hat that
he was then holding in his hand."
Without the dying declaration
of Mrs. England and that of her daughter,
undoubtedly Krebs and the
other two suspects would probably have been
released.
Harvey,
Mrs.
England's son, testified that he had made his
bed on a pallet on
the front gallery while the rest of the family
had gone to be inside
the house. Soon after he retired, he saw
three men coming up to
the front gate. The moon was shining
brightly; however, Harvey
said the men were bending over as if to hide
their faces. He said
that the men entered the gate and that the
smallest of the three "came
up to me and presented a bright pistol," and
said, "G--d--m, you, get
in the house! Harvey stated that he
obeyed the orders by running
into the house upon which the man followed him
and shot his brother,
Isaiah. Harvey then related how he had
escaped by running out of
the house, all the time hearing his mother and
sister screaming while
more shots were being fired. Harvey
possibly recognized the
shooter since he was outside in the bright
moonlight and was close to
the man. His opinion was that the leader
of the three-men gang
was William "Bill" Taylor, an escaped convict
and refugee from justice
at the time of the murder. His testimony
was that he knew Krebs
well and did not recognize Krebs as the
shooter, adding that the man
who followed him into the house was a young
man and "wore not hat but
had a rag around his head." It is
reasonable to believe that
Harvey had the best means of telling
accurately whom and what he saw
while his mother and sister got their first
sight of the man from
indoor darkness, and their impression by the
flash of a pistol that
left Isaiah a lifeless form at their feet.
In fact, Harvey followed
his mother to the neighbor Musick's house
where he found her lying on
the floor bleeding and told her that he took
one of the assassins to be
"Bill Taylor" and another to be "John Musick."
He also testified
that his mother told him to "hush, "that
Musick was at home when she
came to the house."
There were other affidavits given that Bill
Taylor and Musick had been out hunting that
fateful evening, that Bill
Taylor had skipped the country and not been
seen since the murders, and
that soon after the murder Musick "wound up
his affairs," quit his wife
and family and left the country. Johnny
Savage and Mary Jane
Savage, Krebs' stepchildren, testified that
the two defendants and A.K.
Taylor were aroused by the shooting, got out
of their beds, and with
other members of the family, went into the
yard barefooted to listen.
(The
Galveston Daily News, November 30,
1894)
Other
facts
and circumstances of evidence that was not
deemed sufficient to
cast more than slight suspicion on either of
the accused:
1. Krebs
and the England family were on unfriendly
terms as neighbors and the
England family were prosecuting witnesses
against Krebs in a
misdemeanor case that was soon to be tried.
2. John Musick,
another neighbor, was also "at outs" with the
England family because he
claimed they had taken the land they occupied
from his father,
depriving him of valuable property rights.
3. Preston and the
England family were good friends with Mr.
England even preaching the
funeral of Preston's deceased wife a few
months prior to the assault on
the family.
4. Krebs and England had fallen out over
"gaps in
the fence" and "hogs in the field" shortly
before the time of the
assault.
After
serving
18 years in the state penitentiary, Gov. J.S.
Hogg examined the
entire case in 1894 and delivered his opinion
that Krebs and Preston
were innocent of the crime committed in August
1876 against the England
family and granting them a full pardon and
restoring all their rights
as citizens.
Both men were nearing their 76th
birthday at the time of their pardon.
Hon.
E.G. Douglass, assistant Superintendent of the
Rusk Penitentiary for
three years, wrote a letter before his
retirement stating that he was
convinced both men were innocent and
wrongfully convicted.
Lucas
F. Smith, part of the defense team, wrote a
letter stating that Harvey
Taylor, the only survivor of the 1876 family
murder had told him as
well as Judge Hurt in a Gainesville hotel room
during the first trial
that he knew the defendants were innocent but
had not testified to such
in court because he feared for his life.
Judge
J.P. Gibson, assistant Superintendent of Rusk
Penitentiary, wrote a
letter stating that approximately 90 officers,
guards and other
employees at the prison believed implicitly in
the innocence of Krebs
and Preston.
Young Taylor had given a dying
declaration of his as well as Krebs and
Preston's innocence in the murder.
Around
the time of the trials, Eliza Krebs apparently
changed her name to
"Rhoda," for reasons unknown. Family
research by
descendants note that Eliza may have assumed
the name of her
great-grandmother, Rhoda Campbell.
1880
Montague Co., Texas census showed Rhoda
Krebbs, age 40, and her
children, M.J. (female, age 18), J.W. (male,
age 16), W.B., male, age
12), Geo. A. (female, age 10) and J. Adaline
(age 7) living two houses
down from Thomas Savage and family,
Eliza/Rhoda's former step-son of
Wiley B. Savage. In the years following
the massacre of the
England family, Eliza/Rhoda and her sons moved
across the Red River
into Chickasaw Nation lands in Indian
Territory where they obtained
farming lands.
Benjamin
and Rhoda Krebs were enumerated in the 1900
census in the household of
their son, Billie Krebs, in Lone Grove,
Chickasaw Nation, Indian
Territory. Benjamin Krebs died February
21, 1901 at the age of 72
in Lone Grove and was buried in the Newport
Cemetery (Find-A-Grave
Memorial #17097954). Eliza/Rhoda Ann
Krebs died August 2, 1909 in
Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma, at the age
of 66 years. She is
buried in the Duncan Municipal Cemetery
